how to bulk insert in sqlite in android

Use a transaction to insert all the rows -- NOT one row per transaction.

SQLiteDatabase db = ...
db.beginTransaction();
try {
    // do ALL your inserts here
    db.setTransactionSuccessful()
} finally {
    db.endTransaction();
}

EDIT

public void add_cities(List<Cities> list) {
    SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
    db.beginTransaction();
    try {
        ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
        for (Cities city : list) {
            values.put(CityId, city.getCityid());
            values.put(CityName, city.getCityName());
            db.insert(TABLE_CITY, null, values);
        }
        db.setTransactionSuccessful();
    } finally {
        db.endTransaction();
    }
}

ALL inserts, ONE transaction.

Thank you @karakuri. i pass the list of city id and city name to add_city function and loop through that list and insert all the data. From this we can insert data to database in a small amount of time.

database class:

public void add_cities(ArrayList<Cities> list) {
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
        db.beginTransaction();
        try {
            ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
            for (Cities city : list) {
                values.put(CityId, city.getCityid());
                values.put(CityName, city.getCityname());
                db.insert(TABLE_CITY, null, values);
            }
            db.setTransactionSuccessful();
        } finally {
            db.endTransaction();
        }
    }

data class:

public class Cities {
    public String getCityid() {
        return cityid;
    }

    public void setCityid(String cityid) {
        this.cityid = cityid;
    }

    public String getCityname() {
        return cityname;
    }

    public void setCityname(String cityname) {
        this.cityname = cityname;
    }

    @Expose

    private String cityid="0";

    @Expose
    private String cityname="";

    public Cities(){
    }

}

activity class:

 ArrayList<Cities> mCities;
     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
            setContentView(R.layout.activity_splash);
            db = new DatabaseHandler(getApplicationContext());
           executeCircleAndOperatorsList();

        }
      void executeCircleAndOperatorsList() {
     db.ClearTables();
            ServiceClient serviceClient = ServiceUtil.getServiceClient();
            JsonParser jsonParser = new JsonParser();

           mCitiesCallback = new CancelableCallback(citiescallback);

            serviceClient.getCities("getCities_v1", mCitiesCallback);
    }
    Callback<JsonObject> citiescallback=new Callback<JsonObject>() {

            @Override
            public void success(final JsonObject jsonObject, Response response) {
                Thread t=new Thread(new Runnable() {
                    @Override
                    public void run() {
                        parsecities(jsonObject);
                        runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
                            @Override
                            public void run() {
                                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "msg msg", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

                                Intent intent=new Intent(SplashActivity.this,LoginAcivtiy.class);
                                startActivity(intent);
                            }
                        });
                    }
                });
                t.start();

            }

            @Override
            public void failure(RetrofitError error) {

            }
        };
        public void parsecities(JsonObject result) {
            //Log.v("TAG_RESULT", "" +result.toString());
            try{
                String Status = result.get("Status").getAsString();
                if (TextUtils.equals(Status, "true")) {
                    Gson gson = new Gson();

                    JsonArray array = result.get("data")
                            .getAsJsonArray();
                    Type type = new TypeToken<ArrayList<Cities>>() {
                    }.getType();
                    setmCities((ArrayList<Cities>) gson.fromJson(array, type));
                    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
                    db.add_cities(mCities);

                    System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() - start);
                    circle_list=db.get_cities();
                    Log.v("TAG_CIRCLELIST",""+circle_list);



                }
                else if (TextUtils.equals("Status", "false")) {

                    // showToast(operators.getMessage());

                } else {
                    throw new JSONException("Something went wrong ");
                }        }catch(Exception e){
                e.printStackTrace();

            }

        }
      public void setmCities(ArrayList<Cities> mCities) {
            this.mCities = mCities;
        }
    }

try SQLiteStatement
in 2-3 times faster than just beginTransaction()

public void add_cities(ArrayList<Cities> list) {
    SQLiteDatabase database = this.getWritableDatabase();
    String sql = "INSERT INTO " + TABLE_NAME + " VALUES(?, ?)";
    SQLiteStatement statement = database.compileStatement(sql);
    database.beginTransaction();
    try {
        for (Cities c : list) {
            statement.clearBindings();
            statement.bindLong(1, c.getCityId());
            statement.bindLong(2, c.getCityName());
            statement.execute();
        }
        database.setTransactionSuccessful();
    } finally {
        database.endTransaction();
    }
}